THE ARCTIC SHELF N | j 



Actual arctic conditions exist in 

 about one-sixth of Alaska, north of 

 Seward Peninsula and the Brooks 

 Range. The low-rolling hills and 

 plateaus of the Arctic Shelf are 

 drained by north-flowing rivers and 

 streams. The climate is cold and 

 arid with only 6 to 8 inches of an- 

 nual precipitation in late summer 

 and early fall. Winters are long, 

 dark, and bitter cold; summers, 

 though short and cool, have virtu- 

 ally continuous sunshine from May 

 to August. There is a luxurious 

 growth of mosses, bright flowers, 

 lichens, and grasses, even though 

 the soil cover thaws only a foot in 

 depth. Timber is thin or non- 

 existent, and willows, some only a 

 few inches high, are the predomi- 

 nant tree growth in the Arctic 

 drainage. 



Caribou, ptarmigan, and an oc- 

 casional grizzly live on the tundra 

 along the willow-bordered streams. 

 Polar bears and arctic foxes range 

 the coast, and the ringed seal may 

 be found in the inlets. Whales in 

 the waters of the Arctic Ocean in- 

 clude the bowhead, the blue or sul- 

 phur bottom, and the finback. A 

 once-in-a-while visitor to these 

 waters is the narwhal whose left 



upper jaw is armed with a twisted 

 tusk — the reason for its nickname 

 of "sea unicorn." The walrus also 

 churns up the chilly waters. The 

 streams contain salmon, trout, 

 grayling, pike, and sheefish. Some 

 of the birds of this region are the 

 snowy owl, the king eider and Stel- 

 ler's eider, the Alaska yellow wag- 

 tail, the gyrf alcon, the Alaska long- 

 spur, and the Arctic tern, which 

 makes one of the longest migrations 

 known. It summers as far north as 

 land occurs and winters as far south 

 as Antarctica. 



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PTARMIGAN SNOWY OWL 



